ROCHESTER, Mich. – Following the team's first exhibition win over Grand Valley State on October 20, the Oakland University Men's Basketball team is primed for a cross-city showdown with Rochester University at Garth Pleasant Arena on Tuesday, November 1 at 7:00 pm.
Jalen Moore grabbed 32 points in 25 minutes in the team's 92-76 win over the Lakers in the squad's first exhibition on October 20. This is the most points since current Los Angeles Laker Kendrick Nunn's 40 points against Central Michigan in 2017, equating out to 1.28 points per minute for Moore. The senior shot 88.8% from the field (8-9) while also taking on 2-3 from deep and 14-15 from the charity stripe.
Newcomer Keaton Hervey recorded 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds against GVSU with fellow transfer Rocket Watts in tow with 11 and two, respectively. All 15 players on the Oakland roster saw action with freshman Cooper Craggs leading the group with four points and a single rebound as Dominic Capriotti and Evan Solomon saw a combined 10 minutes of play.
The starting five of Moore, Hervey, Watts, Blake Lampman, and Trey Townsend accounted for 78.2% of the scoring offense with 72 of the 92 points socred as Osei Price, Will Shepherd, Lorne Bowman, and Chris Conway pitched in 12 from the four of them.
Minutes of play is trending to be on par with last season's with the two most playing teammates, Moore and Townsend, registering 25 and 21 minutes following the exhibition win as Watts boasted the most amount of playing time with 27. Last year, Moore and Townsend were fourth and 22nd in the NCAA with 38.1 and 36.2 mpg, respectively.
Moore pick-pocketed four steals against the Lakers to continue the 32nd-best effort in NCAA Division I from a season ago with at least two per contest. Many of these resulted in highlight plays such as the No. 10 play in the daily Sportscenter Top 10 on ESPN's following broadcast.
Compared to the other exhibition game to be played at the early date (American International at Providence College), OU sported three of the five leading scorers in the exhibition season. This will be the last one of Oakland's schedule, opening the season on Monday, November 7 at 5:30 pm versus Defiance College.
Head Coach Greg Kampe enters his 39th season at the helm for Oakland University as the second-longest tenured coach in NCAA Division I basketball behind Jim Boeheim from Syracuse, who is in his 42nd season. Kampe has posted a 664-506 (56.8%) career record.
The preseason KenPom rankings revealed Oakland as the fifth-best in the Horizon League at 225th overall out of the competing 363 teams.
With the release of the AP Top 25 Poll, Oakland will not play a ranked opponent in non-conference play but will do battle with the No. 31 (Michigan State), No. 54 (Syracuse), No. 86 (Toledo), and No. 87 (Boise State) teams in the KenPom rankings, respectively.
SCOUTING REPORT
ROCHESTER
The NAIA Men's Basketball season is already underway. The Warriors played two multi-team event games in Garth Pleasant Arena with the Travis Bass Homecoming Classic against East-West University and Lambton College before Oakland. Following Tuesday's exhibition, RU will host the Federated Insurance Classic with No. 16 Saint Francis and Mount Vernon Nazarene on November 4-5.
The second exhibition for Rochester will take place on November 8 at Detroit Mercy as the team's leading scorer from a year ago, Virgil Walker Jr., leaves the team with his 17.7 points per game as Bralin Toney and Anthony Cukaj return as the team's leading scorers from a year ago with 6.0 and 4.4 per game. Toney saw approximately 16 minutes of action a year ago.
Since 1998, the Golden Grizzlies are 11-0 in the regular season against the Warriors with the most recent action coming in 2014-15 with an 84-52 win. However, you don't have to look far to find the most recent exhibition contest in October of 2019, a 61-59 victory for OU with two Golden Grizzlies recording 19 points.
Last season, the Warriors reached the NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament following an 85-68 loss to Indiana Tech in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) finals before dropping the first-round game 85-72 to West Virginia Tech.
DA-DA-DA DA-DA-DA
Moore and Hervey connected from a steal for the off-the-glass slam by the grad transfer from Missouri State for the team's first #SCTop10 of the 2022-23 season, coming in at No. 10 in the daily ESPN show on October 20.
NEW FACES
The Golden Grizzlies welcome in four transfers, two from the power five-level, Rocket Watts (Mississippi State), Lorne Bowman (Wisconsin), Keaton Hervey (Missouri State), and Chuol Deng (Hill College). Three freshmen join the new class Cooper Craggs, Dominic Capriotti, and Evan Solomon.
NEW HEAT IN MIAMI
Oakland's own Jamal Cain has earned a contract with the Miami Heat for the upcoming season wearing No. 8. Cain is just the latest active Golden Grizzly in the NBA with Kendrick Nunn, a regular part of the Los Angeles Lakers rotation.
GET YOUR TICKETS
Season tickets can be purchased through the Athletics Ticket Office by calling (248) 370-4000 or emailing outickets@oakland.edu. Single-game tickets and mini-plans are also available for the 2022-23 basketball season.
NEW HOME FOR OAKLAND BASKETBALL
Oakland recently announced a partnership with Audacy that made 97.1 The Ticket HD3 and The Bet 1270AM (WXYT-AM) the official radio providers for the department. With this new partnership, 97.1 The Ticket HD3 and The Bet 1270AM (WXTY-AM) will provide coverage for all Oakland men's basketball games as well as the Greg Kampe Radio Show.
BACK FOR ANOTHER RUN
Kampe enters his 38th season at the helm of the Oakland men's basketball program. He is the second-longest tenured active coach in Division I, only behind Jim Boeheim (Syracuse, 45 seasons). Kampe's 664 career wins rank 12th among active Division I coaches.
PUTTING OAKLAND ON THE MAP
Kampe joined Oakland in 1984 after six seasons as an assistant coach at Toledo (1978-1984). Formerly known as the Pioneers, OU had only six winning seasons in 16 years of competition before his arrival.
